For Parents of Young Kids.

I have some wonderful friends that are younger than I and they have amazing, cute, little balls of energy that they are in the thick of raising. Although my children are grown, I remember vividly the trials and tribulations of little ones. One time my husband had gone to all of the trouble to redecorate our basement so that my job as a homeschool mom would be easier. My darling man created four desks (one was for me) with matching shelves to store all of the books, glue sticks, papers, computer programs, crayons, Science kits, and miscellaneous craft materials.

One evening he was yelling at the two younger kids for making a glitter glue mess on the new desks. I did not understand why they were getting yelled at for using the desks for their intended purpose. I understand that he went to a lot of expense and time to create such a lovely place to study, but children are messy. I often felt like taking care of small children was like weeding a garden after a rain. The weeds keep coming and coming as fast as you can pull them. With young children, the messes, the laundry, the meal preparation, the countless bedtime stories keep coming and coming and coming until you wonder if anything you do matters.

Today I want to emphatically remind parents of young, messy, loud and active children that the glitter glue desk means they were learning how to be creative. The muddy shoes in the foyer mean that they got to play outside and were not sitting in front of the electronic babysitter (TV-computer-iPad-etc…) The story you have to read for the nineteenth time means that they are learning repetition and that is comforting to them. The laundry you have to do means that they have a clean environment to grow and learn.

Stick it out. Take a deep breath. They will only be young for a short period of time. If you do it right, they will grow up to be these amazing adults who are so much fun to be around. They will be your legacy. They will remind you that all of those sticky fingers, half-eaten peanut butter sandwiches, and poopy diapers were just part of the journey.